Mai-Kai Cocktail Guide

Updated Feb. 24, 2015

Follow our never-ending journey through The Mai-Kai’s classic cocktail menu with exclusive tribute recipes, newly uncovered ancestor recipes for lost classics, plus new special features. Check back often and be sure to click on the reviews to add your own ratings and comments.

The Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale is widely recognized as having perhaps the best authentic tropical drinks in the world. The cocktail menu remains virtually unchanged since its opening in 1956 and most of the classic recipes date back to the original Tiki drinks invented by Don the Beachcomber in the 1930s and ’40s.

In the early years, The Mai-Kai had a club called the Okole Maluna (pronounced Oh-koh-lay Mah-loo-nah) Society. Okole Maluna is a traditional Hawaiian toast that means “bottom’s up!” To become a member of the society, you had to sample every one of the drinks on the menu and have them checked off your membership card. Once you joined the club, you were given access to a special off-menu drink. (More on the menu on The Swank Pad blog)

Okole Maluna Society menu. (Courtesy of SwankPad.org)

The society no longer exists, but we’re resurrecting it here on The Atomic Grog. We’ve sampled all the current drinks and have ranked them below on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. Following the rankings you’ll also find the drinks listed by category as they appear on the menu. For 52 weeks, from June 2011 until June 2012, we posted detailed reviews (with photos) of all the cocktails on the menu, plus a few off the menu, as well as some classics that are no longer offered. They’re all listed below with hyperlinks to the reviews and an archive of 90 recipes.

This online guide serves two useful purposes. It gives Mai-Kai patrons a richly detailed and authoritative tool to help choose a cocktail, and also offer feedback. There’s a poll to every drink that lets you rate them, in addition to leaving comments. It’s also an essential resource for home mixologists, giving Tiki drink aficionados exclusive access to a vast archive of recipes.

Okole Maluna Society menu from The Mai-Kai. (Courtesy of SwankPad.org)

These include some authentic Mai-Kai recipes along with “tribute” drinks from The Atomic Grog and others in the Tiki community. But many of the true recipes remain a puzzle. You see, the aura of these mysterious drinks is created by the fact that they’re for the most part top-secret recipes (in the tradition of Don the Beachcomber) that have never been revealed. The cocktails are created in back bars, away from public view. We’ve also included many of the original Donn Beach recipes that inspired The Mai-Kai’s legendary mixologist, Mariano Licudine.

We’ll be continually enhancing this guide with new recipes, history, photos and behind-the-scene stories, so be sure to check the links at the top of the page. We hope to pay homage to The Mai-Kai, a one-of-a-kind mid-century marvel, and its amazing cocktails that top even those at the trendiest craft cocktail bar today.

The Mai-Kai is a tropical drink lover's paradise. (Photo from TikiCentral.com by Koitiki)

Disclaimers: These ratings are based on Hurricane Hayward’s own personal tastes. He tends to prefer strong, complex drinks with a unique flavor profile. Aside from perhaps the bottom three or four, they’re all highly recommended and sure to please imbibers with different tastes. The top three are remarkable, and the top 10 are all worthy of the Tiki drink hall of fame. But please, consume with caution, they’re all very potent.

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THE MAI-KAI TROPICAL DRINK MENU(Our ratings in parentheses, 1-5 stars)(Click on hyperlinks for full reviews and recipes)

The Molokai bar was designed to look like the interior of the famed cargo ship HMS Bounty, complete with sails and rigging. Much of the rigging came from the movie 'Mutiny on the Bounty' starring Marlon Brando. The set designer, an expert on 18th century nautical lore, came to The Mai-Kai and made sure it was tied correctly.(Courtesy of The Mai-Kai and Go11Events.com.com)

Mahalos
* Owner Dave Levy, manager Kern Mattei, marketing director Pia Dahlquist and everyone else at The Mai-Kai. You have the best jobs in the world.
* Author Jeff “Beachbum Berry,” my mixology guru, whose research provided many of the recipes above.
* Historian Tim “Swanky” Glazner, who keeps the stories and spirit of The Mai-Kai alive for future generations.
* The Hukilau, which gave me my entre to this wonderful world.
* And last but not least: My amazing wife, and all my friends and associates who have joined me at The Mai-Kai during my “research.”

I went to the Mai-Kai for my 21st birthday and I had their Hidden Pearl. I really liked it, but I haven’t been able to find the recipe at all. I saw that you had recipes for some of their drinks and wondered if you knew the recipe for their hidden pearl?

Have had many of the drinks. Added the Deep Sea Diver this weekend at the Hukilau. We should try to resurrect the THE OKOLE MALUNA SOCIETY, i think the concept is great. Would also be great for the restaurant. Maybe get some small little passport booklets made. Have the waitresses sign off on it. Then induct someone into the club like they do at the Smugglers cove in San fran with an official fez… Im in on that!